I am trying to find the origin of the phrase "ticked off". I understand that the phrase originated in the UK and the contemporary meaning of the phrse is to annoy or annoyed, but I don't understand why ticked off came to have that meaning, and why "tick"? Can anyone help?

That is odd, Joseph. You may possibly be right about the UK origin, but I have never encountered the expression there -- the first time I ever heard 'ticked off' used in the sense you mention was in the USA, where it is a very common expression roughly equating to the British 'peeved' ("I'm really ticked off that you didn't call up and cancel if you knew you weren't coming!").

Whereas the British tick a box on a form (which they usually fill in), Americans check a box on a form (which they fill out).

I am trying to find the origin of the phrase "ticked off". I understand that the phrase originated in the UK and the contemporary meaning of the phrse is to annoy or annoyed, but I don't understand why ticked off came to have that meaning, and why "tick"? Can anyone help?

For attention of the poster of this poser: Mr Kaminski:- On google I always click on definition of words or phrase I seek the origins of. In this case for your info. it says: "from Middle English: TEK meaning light tap". The rest is history I guess. As a side line, don't Americans say they are "pissed" i.e. angry whereas in this jolly old bit of Europe this means drunk; we have to add "off" to mean the same as America. For what it's worth, hope I helped. Frank (table tennis is my game) Gibbard.

Frank, you are of course correct about the US usage of 'pissed' to mean 'cross', but it should be noted that this is not quite yet an expression that can be freely used in the presence of 'polite company' (whatever that means -- in the USA, in practice it very often seems to mean 'children' So for the sake of propriety, the usage of 'pissed' tends to give way to 'ticked off' in some situations.

However, as with the term 'asshole', meaning 'jerk', the time when it becomes almost universally acceptable is probably not far off as far as most of the country is concerned.

KaminskiJL wrote:
I am trying to find the origin of the phrase "ticked off". I understand that the phrase originated in the UK and the contemporary meaning of the phrse is to annoy or annoyed, but I don't understand why ticked off came to have that meaning, and why "tick"? Can anyone help?

I remember this expression,from my childhood in the highlands of Scotland. It meant to be admonished for a misdemeanour,with no punishment involved.

This is strange, “ticked off” meaning admonished is a perfectly common expression here, and still in daily use. It really surprises me that only Sandy has heard of it, Scotland and Wales hardly share a border.

On the subject of forms that we fill in and Americans fill out, have you noticed that British politicians stand for office, whilst Americans run?

The first time I heard the expression TICKED OFF, meaning pissed off (the only usage I am familiar with in the U.S.) was in 1959. I remember that because that was the year I entered college in the wilds of upstate (anything in the state north and and/or west of NYC) New York. I remember the expression, which was rampant on campus, surprised me because coming from New York City I had never heard it before.

The British meaning of ‘admonish,’ which was also one of the earlier American meanings derives from TICK (also a noun) meaning to mark (a name, an item in a list, etc.) with a tick, mark off with a tick, check, identify, indicate that an item is noted, passed, or done with. <"Tick off a person’s name on a list.">. In the British military (circa WWI) to get a check or ‘tick’ mark meant that note was taken that one had done something wrong. This soon passed into the verb TICK OFF, to find fault, reproach, blame, upbraid, scold, reprimand for an infraction. And the OFF part was most likely inspired by the older TELL OFF. <“I ticked him off good and proper.”>. The expression had the same meaning in the U.S. military during WWI, but I get the feeling that it did not develop independently but was borrowed from the British, since TICK (to check off), I believe, was not as common an expression over here.

<1854 “He was not sure that if he had been required . . . to TICK HER OFF into columns in a parliamentary return, he would have quite known how to divide her.”—‘Hard Times’ by Dickens, I. xiv. page 108> [[check off]]

<1915 “He has been ‘TICKED-OFF’ four or five times for it; but is not yet shot at dawn.”—‘Letters’ (1967) by W. Owen, 2 November, page 365> [[reprimanded]]

A second somewhat different, but related, meaning of TICK OFF in both the British and U.S. military during WW I was ‘to grumble or complain.’ And this may have been, in part, responsible for the other U.S. meaning, which didn’t make its appearance over here, at least according to the Oxford Dictionary of Slang, until 1959 (coincidentally, the year I entered college) – to annoy, make angry, infuriate. The expression is also heard as TICKED and is now used as a euphemism for the earlier PISSED OFF (1946), PISSED (1971), and is a variant of TEED OFF (1955) or T’D OFF, or TEED, which some believe derives from the game of golf. <“The coach’s attitude ticked him off.”>

.. to add the Downunder Colonial influence the term ticked off meaning annoyed is still used in Aus but not as much as it used to be having been replaced with pissed off or the more polite peed off or teed off ..
.. using it in the sense of admonish is hardly heard at all, eg He was given a good ticking off .. with Aussies preferring He got stuck into him. to mean the same thing ..